This invention relates to a greatly improved construction for a baby bottle which incorporates a unique bottle nipple shield. The invention overcomes many practical problems which have plagued the use of bottles of this type, particularly by toddlers. The bottle of this invention incorporating the nipple shield provides reassurance to parents of young children who are concerned with possible contamination of the nipple when the bottle is within the child's exclusive possession and is dropped on a surface. Thus, this invention is provided which is particularly adapted for use by children who have relatively poor manual dexterity--i.e., all of them.
The general public is keenly aware of the increasing number of young children in households where the parent or parents are employed outside of the home or because of other circumstances the children are placed in outside day-care or other care facilities where direct care or continuous supervision is simply impossible. In a related vein, parents of young children also often resort to the use of baby-sitters who may be less than fully attentive to the sanitary conditions of the nipple of a child's baby bottle after it has been dropped. Moreover, in any household with pets, the problem of contamination of a nipple from pet hair is virtually impossible to eliminate no matter how much effort is expended. And, no matter how attentive the parent may be, the frequency of drops and spills, particularly by younger toddlers, virtually ensures that the nipple will contact some foreign object.
The continuing desire for a sanitary baby bottle including a sanitary nipple appears to be widely recognized since bottle sterilizers and bottle caps for particular protection of the nipple are widely available. Thus, child care sections of any department or grocery store provide countless options for preserving the sterility of the contents of the bottle, including advantages provided by disposable liners, for example, or sterilizers for glass bottles or the like. On the other hand, a substantial need is presented for a bottle equipped with an effective guard against contamination of the nipple when the bottle is itself in use. In a related manner, an effective bottle nipple shield must provide effective protection, while at the same time allowing the child virtually continuous access to the nipple itself for dispensing the contents. If continuous protection were available, a parent would have no need to be concerned with repeatedly applying caps to the bottle during use only to have to remove the same within as little as a few minutes. In a related vein, the parent need not be concerned with the need to repeatedly inspect the nipple or with having to rinse the surface thereof during use after it has been dropped.
A study of the prior art addressed to bottles for nursing young children or toddlers reveals an absence of any satisfactory structure addressing the above needs for continuous protection of the nipple while simultaneously providing access thereto. Instead, studies of the prior art reveal numerous contraptions primarily designed for protecting the body of particularly glass bottles against breakage, as can be seen, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 2,706,571 to C. T. Ryan for a bottle muff and in U.S. Pat. No. 2,809,760 to Clark for a bottle protector and teether combination. In a related manner, the art reflects efforts to provide protection against spillage from the bottle to protect the surrounding environs, but which provides no effective protection against direct contact by the nipple with a contaminated surface. Structures of this type are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,033,296 to Porter and 4,050,600 to Jennings for a container spillage prevention system. Equally ineffective structures are shown in Knutzen U.S. Pat. No. 3,718,360, which provides ringed members for holding the bottle and U.S. Pat. No. 3,990,596, Hoftman, for a handle attachment for the baby bottle itself which can provide some incidental protection for the bottle but which provides no protection for the nipple.
Apparent prior attempts to address the same problem as in the present invention are found in older references including Ladley, U.S. Pat. No. 976,887. This patent describes a nipple cover for use with baby bottles which allegedly provides protection against flies and other insects. The structure described in this reference, however, is designed to retain the cover in a closed position and specifically advocates the use of a structure in which the halves of the cover "rebound" when released to close around the nipple. A similar structure is proposed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,084,689, to Karl, where two sections are provided and which are spring-loaded or otherwise loaded to close the nipple protector upon release of the halves from contact with the child's face. Apart from the rather complicated nature of these structures, it may be observed by the parent of any young child that as soon as these protectors close around the nipple, the child no longer has access to the contents of the bottle. It should be equally apparent that upon closing an immediate and likely irritable and voluminous scream may be expected from especially younger children since many of them simply do not possess the kind of manual dexterity that these structures require to manipulate them during use. In addition, the need for continued "maintenance" and supervision is not alleviated.
Therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide a bottle having a bottle nipple shield which overcomes the shortcomings of the prior art in that continuous effective protection against contamination is provided while at the same time continuous access for the young child to the contents of the bottle is likewise accommodated.